Hello everyone, as promised before, here is the 3^rd lesson of Vinatown. We hope you are making progress in your learning Vietnamese. As the grammar is a little bit difficult today, there is only one Vocabulary point today, instead of two as usual.

ANH MUỐN UỐNG CÀ PHÊ ĐEN

A.Vocabulary: Colors in Vietnamese:

To name a color in Vietnamese, you must use the prefix “màu”, then the color itself. Ex: Yellow = màu vàng (lit.: color yellow)

If the color is used as an adjective, “màu” can be omitted.

Ex: Áo dài hồng (áo dài màu hồng) = A pink ao dai

When the color is used to refer to a person (skin color), you must use “da” (skin) before the color:

Ex: Michael Jackson đã là một người da đen, nhưng bây giờ anh ấy có da trắng. (Michael Jackson was a black man, but now he’s white)

Here’s a list of the most common colors:

*FYI: There are several Vietnamese perceptions on colors: red is for good luck, yellow is for hope, green is for jealousy… which may be different from the West. There are also some interesting similes related to colors: “Trắng như tuyết” (As white as snow), “Đen như than” (As black as coal)… Why not try creating your own similes on colors today?

B. Grammar:　

*Review:

Last time, you learned how to turn a sentence into negative form. Let’s review a little:

1.Thì -> thì không:

Ex: Con mèo thì dễ thương à Con mèo thì không dễ thương. (NOTE: people have a tendency to omit “thì” in order to make the sentence shorter, you can write: “Con mèo dễ thương” )

2. Là -> không phải là:

Ex: Cô ấy là học sinhà Cô ấy không phải là học sinh.

3. Ở -> không ở:

Ex: Anh ấy ở nhàà Anh ấy không ở nhà.

Today, we’ll learn how to make a question in Vietnamese. Here we go:

TO BE OR NOT TO BE: THAT IS THE QUESTION

As you know, TO BE is translated into THÌ (for adjectives), LÀ (for nouns) and Ở (for places) in Vietnamese. You can easily ask question by rising tone on the last word. However, there are more proper ways to ask a question by adding “phải không”, “đúng không”, “hay không”, “à”, “hả”, “nhỉ”… OK I didn’t mean to confuse you, let’s study one simple method to ask question in Vietnamese: “có (phải) … không”。

1.THÌ:

Ex: Con mèo (thì) dễ thương. (The cat is lovely)

->Question: Con mèo (thì) có dễ thương không? (note: không: not, the question can be translated: “The cat is lovely or not?”)

*Compared with the negative sentence: Con mèo (thì) không dễ thương. (The cat is not lovely)

The differences are: “không”à “có” and “không” is added at the end of the sentence.

* In sum: Subject+ (thì)+ có+Adjective+ không?

2.LÀ:

Ex: Cô ấy là học sinh. (She is a student)

->Question: Cô ấy có phải là học sinh không? (Is she a student ?)

*Compared with the negative sentence: Cô ấy không phải là học sinh. (She is not a student)

The differences are: “không phải”à “có phải” and “không” is added at the end of the sentence.

*In sum: Subject+ có phải + là+ Noun+(Adjective)+ không?

3.Ở:

Ex: Anh ấy ở nhà. (He is at home.)

-> Question: Anh ấy có ở nhà không? (Is he at home?)

Compared with the negative sentence: Anh ấy không ở nhà. (He is not at home.)

The differences are: “không”à “có” and “không” is added at the end of the sentence.

*In sum: Subject+ có +ở +Place+không?

*TIPS:

1. In academic writing, “hay” (or) is added in front of “không”:

Anh ấy có ở nhà hay không? (Is he at home? Lit.: Is he at home or not?)

2. In case you don’t remember the proper way to ask, you can add “à” in the affirmative sentence:

Anh ấy ở nhà à? (Is he at home ?)

C. Conversation: Tim and Phuong are in the café now. Listen to their conversation.

Explanations:

You may notice there are four colors used in this lessons: “vàng” , “xanh” , “đen” and “cam”. Note that in Vietnamese, “xanh” can be green or blue. To distinguish, you can say “xanh lá cây” (green of leaf) for green and “xanh dương” (blue of ocean) for blue. Orange juice is orange as “nước cam” is “màu cam”.

“(Xin) mời + personal pronoun (listener)+ verb (action)”: “Action, please”. This sentence literally means “Let me invite you to (action)” and the listener is supposed to do that action. However, it is a kind of imperative sentence in a very polite way. Other variations are: “Xin mời [personal pronoun(listener)] dùng cơm” ( “Eat please” ), “Xin mời [personal pronoun(listener) ]dùng nước” (“Have a drink please”). These two are used only when you serve someone food or drink and ask them to enjoy it.

“Chúng ta hãy+ verb+đi”: Let’s + verb. In short, you can say “Hãy+ verb+ đi”.

Another form is “(Chúng ta) hãy+ verb+ nhé”. However, the nuance is a bit different. The former (with “đi” in the end) is an invitation (with little imperative) to the listener to do the action with you. The latter (with “nhé” in the end) is also a suggestion, rather than an invitation to the listener.

Eg: Chúng ta hãy đi ăn phở đi! (Nuance: I want to eat Pho so much, let’s go together)

Chúng ta hãy đi ăn phở nhé! (Nuance: How about going eat Pho together?)

Still confused? OK another one:

Eg: Chúng ta hãy cưới nhau đi! (Nuance:I can’t wait anymore, let’s get married!)

Chúng ta hãy cưới nhau nhé !(Nuance: Let’s get married, what ya think?)

When ordering, you can indicate what you would like to have by using the following patterns:

“Tôi muốn+ (verb)+ something”: “I would like +(to do)+ something”

Or “Tôi chọn+ (something)”: “I choose (something)”

Or “Cho tôi+ (something)”: literally means “Give me+ (something)”

“thêm“: one more, used when you would like to ask for something more.

E.g: Tôi muốn thêm một tô phở (I would like one more bowl of Pho)

Now you can order in Vietnamese. Once, you have mastered all these words, chúng ta hãy đi uống cà phê nhé!

D.Today’s Checklist

COMMON EXPRESSION

NOUNS

VERBS

ADJECTIVES

VARIOUS